where's manny?

i thought that manny ramirez would be up with the a's by now - his reduced 50-game suspension expired around memorial day.  i figured the whole reason the a's signed him was to showcase him for a trade deadline deal in which they could amass a prospect or two and move on.  i guess manny isn't doing too well in aaa, and has a mild hamstring issue.  

i have to admit - i have a soft spot for manny.  i'm glad he's no longer a dodger, but i hope he does well.  it's the same sort of fandom i used to have for jose canseco. i wanted him to succeed despite himself.

here's the most recent manny ramirez card to enter my collection - it's from 2009 upper deck ultimate collection and is fancily serial numbered.

it came my way from the wicked ortega/cardboard don/cardfather a while back in a trade.  there were some other serial numbered cards in the package, like this 2009 upper deck icons rafael furcal card

and this 2010 topps opening day orlando hudson card

neither of those middle infielders are with the dodgers anymore.  furcal is lighting it up in saint louis, while the o-dog was released by the padres and is currently on the south side of chicago.  maybe the dodgers were on to something when they chose not to re-sign hudson after his 2009 season, although i was not sold on their choice of ronnie belliard to replace hudson, who had  hit .283 and played in 149 games for the dodgers.

there was also this 2004 upper deck play ball serial numbered card - upper deck's take on those combo cards.

when did players start to cover their mouths on the mound?  it's a fairly recent development.  the only guy i know of who used to read lips and let people know what was being said was vin scully, and he didn't do it that often.  it's not like he would broadcast 'nomo just said that he was going to go with splitters away, and loduca said he was going for the girl in the front row'.  i guess someone got paranoid (probably greg maddux) and the rest is history.

here's one of those walmart black things - a 2011 topps ted lilly walmart black thing

i broke down and bought a blaster of 2012 topps series 2 at target.  i was pretty ticked that two of the packs were the red bordered crap, which are slightly worse than these black cards.  oddly, i would have been ok with the target throwback cards.

wicked collects maury wills, i believe, so he threw in some of the dodger speedsters cards for me - like this 1992 action packed card

and a couple of topps' all-time fan favorites cards - this one is from 2003

and this one is from 2004

the photos are from 1962 at the latest, based on the uniform, but it's nice to see wills as a dodger on a 1967 topps card instead of as a pirate.  i have in my mind to go through and create all of the maury wills cards that should have been but weren't due to his non-existent relationship with topps early in his career.  just another summer project while i'm waiting for manny to resurface.

thanks for the cards wicked!